Every titan started with his/her first deal...you happen to be decades ahead of most, and for a long game like REI, by the time you're my age you can have an empire of your own design.

Shall I play their game against them?

I'm new to the whole real estate game and have no ideas as to where I start.

A game room?

I am no expert and have only been in the game a little while, but here's how I find mine. 

Everything under one LLC is fair game for creditors of that LLC.  

Point is, not everyone needs an entity to start out with, at some point, like in Rod's case, having assets and equity can make you a target and forming an entity will be prudent later on for those who stay in the game and succeed.

Running a business is a whole other ball game.

Although to reach those kind of numbers in the rental game, I would not consider that to be passive income.  

Tenants complain but will not leave because it's the cheapest game in town.You need to look at possible foreclosures and pre-foreclosures for the area for multifamily.